| Term |
Definition |
Discussion |
Examples & Illustrations |
| Objective |
The end effects that are sought (from the
project). Objectives are tied into target
outcomes.
|
Refer also to statement of objective. |
|
| Operational environment |
That part of the business environment within
which regular (non-project) business activity is
conducted.
|
The two major classes of non-project work are:
- Ad hoc tasks.
- Transactions.
|
|
| Opportunity |
A triggering event that will lead to an increase
in the worth of a project.
|
|
|
| Outcome |
An indirect result attributable to an identifiable
process or mechanism that takes the form of
some measurable change in a state of the
world.
|
Outcomes are of three kinds:
- Desirable.
- Undesirable.
- Fortuitous.
|
|
| Outlay (s) |
Expenditure of cash on external
products/services demanded by the project’s
WBS.
|
|
|
| Output |
A direct result from the work of a process that takes the form of a new artifact—or a change
to an existing artifact.
|
Outputs are always tangible artifacts (“things”).
They are of two kinds:
This classification is not a dichotomy. Given a
large enough number of changes, an alterant
becomes indistinguishable from a deliverable.
The distinction is used to highlight a common
confusion between outputs and outcomes.
|
Primary outputs from Project BuyRite will
include:
- new procurement processes
- a new organisational model (for the
Procurement/purchasing department)
- new vendor contracts
- new application systems (IS)
- new technical infrastructure (IT).
|
| Outputs Breakdown Structure PBS |
A hierarchical model of a project’s outputs.
A synonym for Product Breakdown Structure.
|
The acronym “OBS” is not used in the MFBP
framework for Outputs Breakdown Structure—because of its established use in the project
management literature to mean Organisational
Breakdown Structure. Instead, we use the
acronym PBS for Product Breakdown
Structure.
|
|
| Owner |
See project owner |
|
|
